Biography: Don Messick

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Don Messick was born in Buffalo, New York, but moved with his family to Baltimore shortly after. The family would then relocate to the town of Nanticoke. By age 13, Messick was already performing as a ventriloquist. Don was drafted at the age of 18 and spent 20 months as a member of the Army Special Services, where he performed for the troops stationed in the U.S. Later, Messick would on with William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and become a highly used voice actor for the company. One of his best roles would be as the voice of Scooby Doo.

Early Life/Family

Don Messick was born in Buffalo, New York, but moved with his family to Baltimore shortly after. The family would then relocate to the town of Nanticoke. His childhood life was not the easiest growing up. While in Nanticoke, his family’s house had no electricity, forcing him to do his homework by lamplight. Another house he lived in had electricity, but had no indoor plumbing. Messick spent much of his free time listening to the radio while he went to elementary school and adjusted to the new location. By the time he reached 13, Messick was performing a ventriloquist act around his home town. At age 15, he performed for the program manager and chief announcer at WBOC and landed a job with his puppet on the air. As Messick’s radio career began to grow, it was temporarily halted by the death of his father. Soon after becoming 18 years old, Messick was drafted by the Army and soon after, place in Special Services, where he entertained the troops stationed in the U.S. for 20 months.

Education/Training

When Don Messick began his ventriloquist act at age 13, he was self taught from book and radio shows. When he was 16, he moved to Baltimore to be trained as an actor once he graduated high school. Messick performed in plays and performances in a small theatre owned by Ramsay Streett whose was his instructor at the time.

Career Outline

Don Messick began his illustrious career at he age of 15 when he was hired to WBOC to do a radio show with his puppet characters. He would later be hired to WCAO to do his show on their station. Shortly after World War II, Messick did a radio show with Monty Masters, a friend from the Army. When he was readjusted to performing on the radio, he headed west to hollywood. Here he performed in various ventriloquist acts until he was asked to appear on the Horace Height Show. He did good enough to get signed on to one of the tour groups they had and began touring the Midwest. After touring, Messick went back to freelance work when he met William Hanna and Joe Barbera at MGM. When Hanna and Barbera left MGM to start their own studio, Don was one of the first people they brought with them. His first job was as the voice of Ruff and Professor Gizmo on the show Ruff and Reddy. Messick would later land the role of Droopy on the recommendation from Daws Butler to Tex Avery. In 1958, Messick took the role of Pixie in the short Pixie and Dixie episodes that were part of the Huckleberry Hound Show. in 1969, Don Messick would take on his favorite role, Scooby Doo. He would continue this role for 22 years. When the show gained Scrappy Doo, Messick accepted the challenge of voicing both Scooby and Scrappy. Messick continued doing voice work through the 1980s doing voices such as Papa Smurf and appearing on live TV in “The Duck Factory” with Jim Carrey. Towards the end of his career, Messick voiced over characters from “Tiny Toons” as Hampton Pig and on “Freakazoid!” as Dr. Vernon Danger.?

Comments On Style

Influences

Personality

Don Messick was a soft-spoken and humble person. He was quick to credit his colleagues for his success.

I would like to thank the membership of The International Animated Film Society: ASIFA-Hollywood for sponsoring my efforts to get this project off the ground during its first few years. In particular, I owe a debt of gratitude to ASIFA-Hollywood's president, Antran Manoogian. Without his unwavering support and valuable guidance this project would not exist. -Stephen Worth